7-28-14

Hello fam!

Wow, sounds like you guys had an awesome time at the cabin! That's so much fun! I've been thinking about you guys a lot lately. I hope that everyone is doing well! I can't believe that both Becca and Amy are pregnant! We're going to have bunches and bunches of babies come the new year!

This week was a good week. We were able to keep really busy and visit a lot of the members. I'm trying to think if there was anything exciting that happened this last week that I need to tell you guys. Hmm... well, we meet a lot of families that we've been trying to get in with for the past couple of months. School here is going to be starting up in about a week and a half (School is starting SO EARLY!!) But it's exciting because that means more of the members are going to be home from vacation and a lot of families are going to be home. Which will definitely be good for tracting purposes :)

Oh! A lot of the Less Actives that we've been working with this past transfer came to church this week! Both Lynn Davis's made it to church! Which was super awesome! The younger Lynn Davis hadn't been to church in a Really long time. She and her husband only stayed for Sacrament meeting, but it was so good to see them both there. Also! Garnica came to church as well. She's a lady that was baptized in February and pretty much dropped off the face of the earth. Sister DeBry and I had started working with her and trying to get her to come to church for the longest time. We didn't think that we would be able to, but She finally made it! It was incredible. She's been going through a lot of financial difficulties, and will actually have to end up moving by the end of the month. We're hoping and praying that she'll be able to straighten up and be willing to come to church and keep moving forward. She has a lot of problems with all of the commandments. She's one of those people who pretty much got baptized for the missionaries and wasn't really converted :/ Which is super frustrating. But, we've slowly been able to see a little progress and honestly I feel like if there was any reason for why I came to Webb Bridge it was in order to meet her.

Anyways, I hope that everyone is doing well! I pray for you all! Thanks for all that you do! Take care!

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen

7-21-14

Hello hello!!

I hope that you guys are having a great time at the cabin! I'm so jealous! I miss you guys so bad.

Things are going so great here on the mission. I've been learning so much. This transfer has FLOWN by. I can't believe that there are only two weeks left in the transfer 0.0. I might be headed out to a new area come August 6th. We'll see what happens!

Haha, sounds like you guys had a fun time with the horses! Did you take pictures? I've got some pictures that I need to send off to you! I'll try and get them printed today and get them sent off to you this week!

I think probably the biggest miracle that happened this week was that it was a good week. There was so much more unity and friendship in our companionship, which has definitely been a big blessing. Beverly Taylor is still on date! (She's reading from the Gospel Principles manual, Ensign, Missionary Pamphlets, AND the Book of Mormon. It's so awesome! I didn't realize that the Gospel Principles manual went into such deep doctrine! It talks about in the last chapter how God was a man on another earth before he was God. And of course Beverly happened to read that while she was studying. Haha, both Sister Hooker and I were like Oh, shoot! But we were able to answer her questions, so hopefully it's okay) Her son is coming into town this week so she probably won't be able to make it to church. We're kind of worried about what may happen, so we're trying to inoculate her like crazy and let her know that Satan is going to be on her like crazy.

These last two transfers have been teaching me ALOT. A lot about how to be a better missionary and how to be a better person. Haha, I've definitely have had to have quite a few spiritual slaps in the face. I still don't feel like I have any idea as to what I'm doing, but I know that the Lord is near. As long as I'm worthy of having the Spirit, everything is okay. It's interesting to me how Satan works. He really likes to hit us right where it hurts the most. Which is the family. (And for the mission, the companionship.) If he can strike at the heart everything falls apart. This transfer has really helped me to see how important family is. It's made me really grateful for the things that I have. So, shout out to ya'll! I'm so grateful for my family!! Thanks for all of the lessons that you've taught me. Thank you for teaching me about life and how to be a good person. I'm so grateful for you Mom and Dad. And I'm so grateful for my brothers and sisters. Dallas, Helen, Andrew, Amy, Amelia, Pete, Cameron, Becca, thanks for all that you have taught me and continue to teach me. I'm so grateful for your examples. I feel truly blessed to be the last one in line to learn from those who have gone before me. I look up to you guys a lot. Thank you!

Cheers to a new week and a new adventure! I'm praying for ya'll! Keep the Faith :)

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen

7-7-14

Hi Fam!

Wow, it sounds like there's been a lot of stuff going on back home :) I'm SO glad to hear that the cabin didn't get burned and that the homestead is alright. And that's so much fun that you guys had a great fourth of July :) How's the book coming mom? Were you able to read a chapter with the ANWA group? Oh man, I miss the Arizona storms. Those were the best. The storms here are so weird. They only last for like ten minutes. It just makes me think: That's it? Where's the lightning? Where's the wind? That was nothin'!

Well, let's see... this week had a lot of miracles :) One of our Less Actives has been coming to church every Sunday for the past three weeks!! We also showed her a way to be able to answer any questions she had about the gospel on her phone and got her the whole gospel library uploaded on it. Her name is Lynn Davis and we've been helping her ever since I got into this area. She has a beautiful garden in her backyard so we often like to go back there and help her out with weeding and stuff. (Sister Hooker and I are now professional weeders :P)

We had one of our investigators also come to church. Her name is Beverly Taylor and she's a sweet older woman that we've been working with since pretty much I first got here. We were able to give her a Priesthood blessing on Sunday (She's been going through a lot of family hardships. Her husband has gone blind and is almost deaf which happened a couple of years ago and he's been struggling.) We've been wanting her to get this priesthood blessing for so long and finally she accepted and the spirit in the room was SO powerful. It was awesome! We're determined to get her on date this week, but it's been so incredible seeing her slowly progress and grow closer to the Lord.

I hope that everyone is doing well back home! Things are going so good here :) I've learned so much these last two transfers and continue to learn so many things. It's been such a blessing (And a hardship ;) ) but it's definitely been worth it.

Missionary challenge!

So we've asked everyone in the ward over here to start praying for their missionaries in their ward. And so I'm giving ya'll the same challenge. Pray for the missionaries in your ward that you're working with by name. Pray for their investigators. You don't need to pray for me, because the ward has been praying for us, but please pray for them and help them out :) And that's so awesome that you guys got to feed them!

I hope you guys have the best week ever! Love you!

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen

6-30-14

Oh my goodness! I am NOT excited to hear about what's going on at the cabin. I will definitely keep that in my prayers from now on. Please let me know if there is an update on that one. Haha, I guess I didn't realize where I was when you were doing all of that missionary work with Sister Valentino, but that's awesome! How are things going with Lee? Is she enjoying all of the Family History stuff? I sure hope so. Well, I don't have all that much time to write to you because we've had a lovely computer situation here, but I hope that everything is going well.

Things this transfer have been going so much better than the last transfer. Sister Hooker and I are getting along so much better. I think last transfer I was just SUPER stressed about so many things and I was just really REALLY struggling to be okay with everything. The work is still progressing. We've got a couple of people that we're teaching right now. Nothing Super solid, so we're really working hard to build up our teaching pool. But the members are great and we're getting fed every night, so that's awesome :) How are the grandkids doing? I'm glad that you guys were able to go to St. George! I hope that you're having a blast with the plays! Haha, make sure you give dad a good break and go to the game and fish store or something that he'll love too :P But I love you all! I hope that you have a great week! (Sorry for the shorter email :/)

Just Believe,
Sister Petersen